Swift victory for skaters
South Canterbury has won the National Speed Skating Championships for the 10th consecutive time.
The club has emerged victorious from the five-day competition in the North Island against New Zealand’s top teams with 239 points, ahead of secondplaced Whanganui’s 215, as well as 42 national titles.
Coach Bill Begg said the club just managed to hold onto the trophy with two points last year, so the 23-point lead made this year’s win even sweeter.
‘‘I feel very good about it,’’ Begg said. ‘‘It was quite special receiving the award with five skaters who were with us at the first championships 10 years ago – Charlotte Clarke, Ella Benson, Charli Nevin, Keaton Swindells, and Roshean O’Connor.
‘‘They’ve been prolific New Zealand title winners for a whole decade.’’
The previous record-holder for most consecutive wins was Manawatu¯ with seven.
‘‘We’ve beaten that by quite a few,’’ Begg said. The club added six titles to its haul on Saturday, the final day of the competition.
Begg said Clarke was ‘‘getting better with every race’’, winning the senior ladies 3000 with a 200-metre lead and proving she was ready for the New Zealand Banked Track Championships in February.
Nevin won the junior girls 3000 to continue ‘‘dominating’’ her grade, while O’Connor came third in the same event. Kyla Beveridge crashed in her heat, but ultimately won the juvenile 400m, Grace Worner claiming silver and Lauren Crawford bronze.
‘‘The outstanding Beveridge won all four road and four track titles,’’ Begg said.
‘‘Callum Sandri repeated what he did two years ago, winning all the individual primary boys’ titles to get his name on all primary and all juvenile trophies.’’
In the primary grade, Mia Rich won the girl’s 200m with Oceania Purukamu placing third, and Zachary Tong took silver in the boys’ 200m.
The senior women won gold and silver in the 3000 relay, both teams lapping Whanganui.
The senior men came second in their 3000 relay, as did the junior boys in their 1500 relay, while the two junior girls’ teams placed second and third in their 1500 relay.
‘‘Everyone was very impressive and there was some great racing,’’ Begg said.
South Canterbury’s speed skaters hailed from Timaru, Waimate, Geraldine, and even Fox Peak and Mt Nimrod.
‘‘It goes to show there are people from all sorts of places giving this a go,’’ he said.
The club was “dominating” the New Zealand Marathon Camps at Manfeild Raceway in Feilding yesterday, Clarke taking first and Nevin second in their section. In the junior girls halfmarathon, Emily Thompson claimed first and Olivia Passos O’Brien third.
Sandri took on boys three years older to claim bronze in his section.
Begg said Kiwi speed skaters had been “very fortunate” during the Covid19 pandemic, losing no national competitions to lockdown restrictions.
The New Zealand team for the 2021 Oceania Championships in Timaru will include Charlotte Clarke in the seniors; Ella Benson, Roshean O’Connor, Charli Nevin, and Jody Thompson in the juniors; Olivia Passos O’Brien and Emily Thompson in the cadets; Bruce Begg in the veterans; Bill Begg for couch; and Joe Snelling as assistant manager.